Renew inquiry – meetings at the heart of Government and first publication now live!  

April has been a significant month for the Renew.  

cThe group shared insight from our Renew inquiry about how housing-led regeneration can deliver growth, help tackle the housing crisis, and strengthen communities across the North. 

This meeting was a fantastic opportunity to engage with key people at the heart of the Government and to put forward a case about why housing-led regeneration is an essential part of northern growth and the delivery of new homes, alongside improving existing homes and places. It was also great to get insight from the No. 10 team about current policy priorities and how our work can link in. 

At the beginning of April we launched Perspectives on Regeneration, a series of think-pieces from the North’s leading voices on regeneration. The collection sets the context for the Renew inquiry looking at why regeneration is an essential part of tackling the housing crisis in the North.  

The articles share examples of best practice and partnership working, as well as covering the importance of resident voice in regeneration. Some of the articles look beyond the social housing sector into the private rented sector, and at community-led initiatives. Inside Housing has supported the series as part of their month-long focus on regeneration publishing articles from our Chief Executive Tracy Harrison and Chair of Homes England Pat Ritchie. 

We also brought together the Renew Advisory Group for their first face-to-face meeting in York to discuss initial findings from the Call for Evidence, with the interim report set to launch this summer. We received submissions from housing providers that own or manage 70 per cent of the North’s social housing.  
 
The meeting was followed by a site visit to York Central, one of the UK’s largest brownfield regeneration schemes. The group heard from Homes England’s Leon Guyett about how the site will deliver over 2,500 homes and add in excess of £1.2bn to the local economy. Work is well underway on infrastructure, and the start of the first phase is in sight. The scheme will undoubtably bring massive benefits to the city, but there have been challenges along the way. The site was first identified around 20 years ago, yet only now is it close to becoming a reality.  

Planning is underway for a series of visits with northern housing partnerships to member regeneration sites across the North. The tours will showcase sites at different stages of the regeneration journey and share lessons about what works well and barriers to successful delivery.  They will help decision makers understand the real-life impact of current and future policy priorities on communities and social housing providers in the North.  The NHC will capture learning from the visits and feed it into the Renew inquiry to develop policy and funding recommendations which support successful regeneration in the future.